05 April: Hertford to Bishops Stortford

The ride started from Hertford war memorial and proceeded in a southerly direction up Mangrove Lane, past the campsite to Hoddesdon. The route through Hoddesdon to Dobbs Weir, normally so busy with commercial vehicles, was strangely quiet, and for the rest of the day there was about as much traffic as there was sunshine.

Regrouping at the top of Low Hill

Steve at the cafe in Old Harlow

Encountering the grey wastelands of Harlow, the cycleway was found, giving us an enchanted ride to Café Blue at Old Harlow. After tea we continued eastward, and although the day was sunless, it was also windless, and we bowled along through the Land of the Rodings (a group of 8 villages dating from the Saxon invasion ‘famous for Good Land, Good Malt, and Dirty Roads’) with great ease, putting in an extra loop through Abbess Roding and eventually turning north through Hatfield Forest, to lunch at a JDW pub in the redeveloped canal area of Bishops Stortford.

The day was turning out to be very enjoyable, no rain, no traffic, and no wind, so in the afternoon a tour down the Ash and Rib river valleys ensued, finishing at The Feathers in Wadesmill for teas and coffees, which we were hoping would provide an alternative to Thundridge Stores as that was shut in the afternoon. It wasn’t far from there back to Hertford, so the fact that the coffee & cake for £3 offer didn’t apply at weekends wasn’t too much of a blow.